Methods of Evangelism: Their Advantages and Disadvantages

Evangelism entails preaching the word of God to non-believers with the intention of converting such to Christianity (Comfort 2003). Evangelists are people specializing in doing so. There are numerous methods that evangelists may choose from and apply in their work. For instance, The Roman Road, Door to Door Evangelism, Lifestyle Evangelism, and many others are among them. This paper will discuss some of them, outlining their advantages, as well as disadvantages. The best approach for me and its application will also be pointed.

The Roman Road as an Evangelism Method

The Roman Road as an evangelism method is designed to offer a salvation plan, via which Bible’s series of verses were picked and arranged systematically. The methodical arrangement allows evangelists to have some outlined procedure to teach people the way to Christ. The orderly scripture organization of the book of Romans establishes a simple predefined way of conveying the salvation message. Although there are little variations of the Roman Road, the fundamental method and its message remain similar. In order to properly and effectively share the salvation idea with humanity, missionaries, pastors and evangelists among others learn and apply the Roman Road method. The availability and usage of this method have seen efficiency of spreading the message that Jesus commanded. There exist some scriptures that are deemed common for the Roman Road and some incorporate: Romans 3:10, 5:8, 6:23 and 10:13. Romans 3:10 explains that no human can be perceived to be righteous. This verse implies that every human being sins, and it is significant that people accept it since God understands the hearts of human beings. Romans 3:23 states the sinful nature of man and that the glory of God is missing in lives of humankind. This happened right after Creation, when the first humans chose death through defying God’s orders. Romans 5:8 shows that God loved men so much that He decided to allow Jesus sacrificial death in order to save all people. Jesus died to accomplish God’s redemption plan for restoring the lost glory. Ultimately, Romans 5:12 shows how a man committed the first sin and explains that it was via Adam that sins became inherent in men leading to death.

Thus, all people sinned. In the same book of Romans, chapter six verse twenty-three states that sins have their wages in the form of death. However, God’s gift remains the whole life through Jesus our Lord. Romans 10:9-11 explains that mouth confession to Jesus our Lord accompanied with belief or faith in one’s heart that God raised Him to life from the dead enhances the chances of salvation. Man’s heart believes righteousness while his mouth confesses. Thus, a combination of faith and confession brings salvation. The basic principle here comes from scriptures saying that any human who believes in Christ shall never face shame. The Word here offers assurance that faith of believers shall give them honor before God and shame shall get nowhere close to them. Again, Romans 10:13 exemplifies the Word and puts emphasis that whoever ever call the Lord’s name shall receive salvation.

The Roman Road has several advantages unique to it

For instance, the method is straightforward; yet, it includes very strong technique that aids in the explanation of the reason why men should desire to acquire salvation. It reveals why unrighteousness is inherent in men so that people realize that they are not sin free And that each person undermines the glory of God. It takes another giant step to tell mankind the procedure for exiting the sinful world to walk back to God’s grace. The means with which God availed salvation is put across. The emergence of sin did not change God’s plans for man. He decided to restore the God-man relation that was delinked by sin that a man committed. Receiving salvation has been the main goal for all who strive for proper comprehension. God gave salvation to everyone taking into consideration that Jesus died. When the lost souls get this illumination, sense is bestowed upon them as they can see how Jesus departed heaven leaving behind the glory of God and all the goodness to descend and be sacrificed. The gospel preachers use the Roman Road to depict the goodness that accompanies salvation and explain protocol as the darkness that Satan placed in the human mind makes it difficult to understand the Word.

Another advantage of the method of the Roman Road is that it establishes a stepping stone for those evangelizing the way that will lead souls to salvation. The method involves several scriptures that can be read systematically in order to show the path to salvation. Both the evangelists and the people they address hear the word as stated by the Bible. Through the predefined road, evangelism becomes simple, eliminating any confusion since the scriptures speak for themselves (Gutieerrez 2012). For instance, Romans 10:9-11 helps a persom understand that they can never acquire salvation until they make confession via their mouth. People comprehend the essence of confession right after they start believing with all their heart.

The Roman Road also has some disadvantages

Vivid example of them incorporates the usage of numerous church language. The person that the evangelists are leading to salvation may face difficulties understanding the language as it may be not familiar to them. Obviously, the people that the evangelists address often find themselves in an environment that is complitely unfamiliar. The complex angle with which such people view Christ makes them possess the inability to even deduce anything from the language. This presents the biggest issue in the application of the Roman Road in evangelism. The other disadvantage of this method is its universality. Each person the evangelists lead have to move via the predetermined method that makes them feel impersonal. The gospel preachers use such a rigid approach that the people may even challenge it through asking questions that may be outside of the knowledge of the evangelists who are used to the method. Most people resist the method as they wish for techniques that are a bit intimate. They have limited or no information regarding salvation, and they, therefore, need more devotion rather than this general method. The founder of the method had slight familiarity with personal needs of individuals since the approach should differ from person to person.

Servant Evangelism is Another Evangelism Method

It gives all people a good opportunity to ascertain that people who do not deserve salvation see the essence of confessing to Jesus. The method entails apportioning the God’s love by using practical techniques that help each person perceive themselves to be a God’s doing. The person excercises the method via committing acts of goodness and kindness to mankind (Gutieerrez 2012). Jesus, while being on the earth, served His followers, and even washed their feet. By personal examples, He tried to show that true Christians should humble themselves to serve others. The King fed the hungry, as well as visited and healed the sick. The method requires Chistians to stay faithful to Christ in order to portray His actions that would make other people understand the Christ’s deeds and the variation. As a result, those who receive salvation make the others interested in this. There are numberless things Christians can practice to lead the lost to salvation, for instance, paying school fees to provide clothing for the orphans and the needy. Others opt for visting prisoners, caring for the aged, making contributions to charitable organizations, providing voluntary service for the community in addition to others. Such deeds can only be performed by people with devine drive. It is an evangelizing technique that reveals love that comes from God. The non-believers easily picture the difference between themselves and Christians.

The Advantages of the Method are Several:

The first one is that offering free service to mankind makes evangelists humble and arouses a desire to understand what pushes them to act that way (Early and Wheeler 2010). Usually, the acts directed at non-believers push young Christians to grow spiritually, while those who do not practice religion desire to acquire salvation. It is a technique that improves people. Another advantage is that the method provides a practical platform for doing things for people and communities. The Church entirely refuses to handle most issues affecting societies. The pulpit preaching become transformed to the ground. The teachings entail telling the significance of helping neighbours and the needy generally. Thus, the Church steps out of the comfort zone to see in practice the acts of God. The outsiders of God’s kingdom percieve the Church’s actions as kindness, and, consequently, become drawn to salvation.

The Disadvantages

Servant Evangelism has a disadvantage in that the people whom the evangelists address sometimes misunderstand salvation. The reason is that they may come to an idea that salvation is about giving or helping the society and never about accepting Jesus as a redeemer. They may, therefore, live tending to stay away from confession. The people engaged in the acts of kindness that aim to help the needy may also be taken advantage of by those who pretend to be the needy. This has happened numerous times when people act as refugees aiming at getting free goods. It also happens that the givers remain permanently in this role, failing to obseve other Christian principles and norms. This method is not confronting in nature. The salvation plan cannot be shared effectively with those who are hungry. It is significant that the Christian ideas light those who acquired salvation (Early and Wheeler 2010).

The Way of the Master as an Evangelism Method

The Way of the Master as an evangelism method is so intense that it requires an inner check for individuals to see that their hearts are pure. The method is based on operating the way Jesus (Master) did and obedience to His commandments. Time is needed here for a real self-evaluation to see honesty that is of unquestionable degree. The Master requires that mankind never worships other deities. The evangelists using this method preach through illuminating and emphasizing that mankind should live like Jesus by placing God before anything else in life and that humanity should love God with all of their soul, heart, mind and strength. The ten commandments call for serious examination of oneself through realization that repentance is paramount. As a result, Christians become committed to God and stay away from sin. This is emulating the Master.

The advantage that is associated with the Way of the Master is that it entails Christians living lives that are never contaminated. It drives believers into constant evaluation of themselves so that they are presentable before God. The people who confess to Jesus are ushered into a life that will entail no sin. Another advantage is that the method produces desire in converts to learn the Ways of the Master in order to avoid sinful deeds. The disadvantage is that many people, especially the new converts, may find salvation too hard and complex. The way the method presents the gospel may be hard for non-believers to understand as they are told the ways of Jesus which they are unaware of.

Conclusion

The evangelism method that I consider suitable in my life is the Roman Road. The reason for selecting this method is that it is easier to explain to people who have never heard of the gospel before. It outlines the Word, explaining the fall of a man into sin and then makes the non-believer feel that they are not odd since the scriptures say that all people sin. Thus, leading them to salvation is easy since they hear the scriptures being read from the Book of Romans. I regard the method as the best one for approaching non-Christians. It is a preferred technique since the Word tells them everything: to belief and then confess. Although they may not become believers that very moment, but they will understand that the Bible tells the truth. Therefore, they would easily agree with it. The procedural nature of the method also makes me favor it. It provides the path to lead others to life through reading the Bible.

Conclusively, evangelical methods are the platforms that aid evangelists and the Christian communities to communicate the Word of God to non-belivers and executing the mission of Jesus. The Savior bestowed the obligation of telling the Word of the kingdom upon all believers no matter whether it is direct preaching or actions that would drive people from darkness to light. The methods have been effective and since they are numerous, they aid all people who acquired salvation to witness their various capacities.